GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 365 



from their minds, accepted the doctor's statement that it was of an 

 effusion of water at the heart that the man had died. 



Sergeant Rice, accompanied by the Eskimo Jens, now made a 

 plucky effort to reach Littleton Island, where an outlying camp of 

 Eskimo might be found; but Jens could not stand the journey, and, 

 five days after starting, they returned. Every one was now im- 

 pressed with the necessity of husbanding their energies for the great 

 effort to be made on the first day of March, and as February slowly 

 passed away, the emaciated creatures grew enthusiastic as they 

 sought to cheer one another up by detailing the tremendous feasts 

 they would have when they returned to civilization. At length the 

 ist of March dawned, and the brave hearts, which had kept up so 

 long against starvation and despair, shrank before the terrible blow 

 they received. The ice had broken, and open water rolled where 

 they had planned to cross on the ice. Nothing was said, for the 

 courage of the men was only equaled by their consideration for one 

 another, but the effect of the great disappointment sank deep into 

 the minds of many. 



The food remaining was eked out through the month with the 

 aid of some blue foxes and a ptarmigan, which were eaten to the 

 bones, and April found them with only a few days even of the star- 

 vation rations remaining. Several of the men were so weak that 

 they could barely turn over in their sleeping-bags. The Eskimo 

 Frederick was found dead in his bag, and another of the little party 

 followed the next day. Then Sergeants Rice and Fredericks insisted 

 on making an effort to reach the meat abandoned when Elison was 

 frost-bitten. It is difficult to understand why the effort had not 

 been made before; but many errors of judgment are conspicuous 

 after a campaign which are not so apparent in the moment of 

 struggle. 



Now that it was made it failed, through the freezing wind 

 penetrating the starved bodies of the two men. Rice, who through- 

 out the terrible ordeal of their captivity had never spared himself, 

 was the first to feel it. A strong wind was blowing, bringing down 



